Train More Effectively For Your Open Water Event By Recording Your Sessions
If you’re not already recording your sessions, you definitely should be. Here’s our guide to why it’s important and how to do it.
If you’re training for an open water swimming event, your best chance of success is through a training plan. Check out our Straight-Line Swimming 12 week plan which is free to our members. Whether you opt for a plan or not, you can make that training even more successful by recording your sessions.
This might sound obvious and you might already have a nifty smartwatch to do the hard work for you. By either using your smartwatch or counting in your head, there are a couple of things you can record whilst you train.
What you should Score
Lap times
A great training plan will allow you to build up to your goal pace over a period of time that includes different variations of swimming; from slow backstroke to challenging open water speed sets.
By recording your times for the main focus of each session you’ll come to learn your average speeds and you’ll be able to see your progress as you improve. This can often be a great motivator!
How You’re Feeling
You’re probably thinking, ‘How do I score my feelings?’ And this doesn’t necessarily mean you should record whether you’re feeling happy, though you can do this if you like. Swimming in nature is sure to get your serotonin levels soaring.
To score how you’re feeling, we recommend that you try using a Record Of Perceived Effort to score your swims which runs from 1 to 10. To give you an example, a 1 on the scale is the equivalent of being sat at home on the sofa- so pretty easy, we wouldn’t usually expect a 1. Likewise, a 10 is truly difficult, like climbing a mountain through treacle. It’s likely that your score will fall somewhere between the two. Check out our handy chart here.
Why you should score it
As you train, you’ll naturally be improving. So it’s important to document your times so that you can continue to check your progress and see whether it’s still in line with your original goal. We would all love to have a straightforward trajectory but that doesn’t always happen and that’s totally okay!
By recording your times, you will come to learn what your true optimum times are. There’s sure to be that one lap when you’re just flying through the water, feeling great and that’s what to aim for. This is why the Record of Perceived Effort is important. If you happen to have recorded that occasion when the swimming felt almost effortless then you’ll have something far more tangible to aim for. You may start to notice some trends emerging. It might be what you ate for breakfast or it could be that you’ve changed something in your breathing technique or posture that’s made a difference to both your time and how you feel.
How you should score it
There are a few ways you can keep track of your laps and in either instance, a smart watch will certainly help you do it.
The most inexpensive way or if you’re just starting out is to make a mental note of your time and then to jot it down on your phone when you get out of the water.
This is great if you have a good memory for numbers but for those who don’t, you can buy a dive slate to keep on the side of the pool.
We recommend that you record the main part of all of your session, with both lap times and your perceived effort along with any other contributing factors. This way you can track your progress and really come to understand yourself as a swimmer. Recording your sessions will make it so much easier to know where and how to make your improvements ready for race day and get you to the start line feeling prepared and ready to go.
If you’re looking for a little more help with your training plan, Straight-Line Swimming provide a free 12 week training programme for both beginner and intermediate swimmers. Simply become a member and get access to this, our nationwide coach finder and access to some great talks and events.